The Decline and Fall of the American Empire

The Decline and Fall of the American Empire
Where are we going, and what are we doing in this handbasket? It sure is getting warm...

Updated: 5/19/03; 1:04:37 AM.

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Sunday, August 4, 2002

Bush Campaign Flew Enron, Halliburton Jets During 2000 Recount George W. Bush's election 2000 recount committee used corporate jets owned by 10 companies, including three now under federal investigation, to ferry lawyers and campaign workers to Florida and elsewhere, according to Internal Revenue Service records and a committee lawyer. Enron Corp., Halliburton Co. and Reliant Energy Inc. were among the corporations reimbursed for the use of their corporate jets by the Bush committee during the 36-day recount that gave Republican Bush Florida's 25 electoral votes and the presidency. [Bloomberg]
10:09:32 PM

Time Magazine has a story about an extensive Clinton plan to attack al-Queda, developed after the Cole bombing. Leaving office, they handed the plan to the incoming Bush administration, who did nothing with it because they didn't see al-Queda as an important enough problem. [Seeing The Forest]
9:33:55 PM

Enron to Bush: fly me While we are still digesting the unsurprising but still flabbergasting report about the Bush campaign's use of Enron and Halliburton corporate jets during the Florida recount fracas, Al Gore comes out punching -- finally -- in a Times op-ed today. Looks like Gore is mad about comments from Joe Lieberman and others that he was wrong to play the populist card in 2000. My only question is what took the once and presumably future candidate so long to enter the fray. Meanwhile, Democratic National Committee spokesman Bill Buck wins the soundbite prize: "The Bush-Cheney administration literally flew into power in Enron's and Halliburton's corporate jets." [Scott Rosenberg's Links & Comment]
8:52:52 PM

Broken Promises and Political Deception For well over a year, the Bush administration has used its power in the wrong way. In 2000, I argued that the Bush-Cheney ticket was being bankrolled by "a new generation of special interests, power brokers who would want nothing better than a pliant president who would bend public policy to suit their purposes and profits." [Daypop Top 40]
8:48:11 PM